Low shoe



S. TROY arch 21,1939.

LOW SHOE Filed Dec. 13, 1937 Zhwentor attorney Patented Mar. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,151,286 LOW snor.

Seymour Troy, New York, N. Y. Application December 13, 1937, Serial No. 179,421

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to low shoes and has for its main object the provision of such shoes designed to perfect the fit and comfort thereof on the wearers foot.

Heretofore considerable care has been devoted in the manufacture of low shoes especially ladies pumps. and the like, to the accurate location of the points of the front and rear top edges of the upper, at the foot opening, for the purpose of obtaining a properly fitting shoe, and a shoe in which the upper would not bulge outwardly or tend to separate outwardly at the sides thereof from the adjacent sides of the wearers foot. However, in shoes as heretofore constructed, and thus designed in respect to said front and rear top edges of the upper the result has been that the top rear edge of the upper cuts into the wearers foot at the heel portion thereof. This cutting action at the heel portion of the wearers foot is due to a considerable extent to the fact that the rear top edge of the upper has heretofore been positioned in the region of the wearers foot above the oscalcis bone where said portion of the foot is relatively soft and yielding and therefore not readily resistant to the above mentioned cutting action. This defect, disadvantage, and serious objection can be largely eliminated, as I have discovered, by properly designing the rear portion of the upper of the shoe, and more particularly, by designing said upper portion, taking into consideration the bone structure of the foot and more specifically such structure in relation to the oscalcis bone, so that the top edge of said rear portion of the upper is positioned, in footgripping relation, to engage the heel of the wearer in the region at the back of the oscalcis bone below said relatively soft and yielding part of the foot. By thus positioning the rear top edge portion of the upper, said edge portion engages the wearers foot in the region of the hard bone structure and not as heretofore at the comparatively soft and yielding part of the foot. Said hard bone structure affords a firm and comparatively rigid although cushioned. abutment for the rear top edge of the upper at the wearers heel thereby to eliminate or substantially prevent the cutting action referred to and the consequent injury or discomfort which results therefrom to the wearer.

The invention will be best understood from the following description considered with reference to the accompanyin drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a ladys low shoe illustrating one embodiment of the invention, the skeleton of the foot being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a rear-side perspective view of the shoe;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a ladys pump embodying the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the shoe I8 5 embodying the present invention, comprises an upper l2, a sole l4, and a heel l6 and may be made in accordance with any customary or preferred method of manufacture, and may be composed of any usual or preferred materials. In accordance with the present invention, however, the shoe upper is designed so that the rear top edge I8 thereof is located above the heel seat and terminates in the region of the oscalcis bone 29 of the foot in foot-gripping relation to the latter at the back of said bone below the relatively soft and yielding portion of the foot above said bone. In the preferred form of the invention, the top front edge 22 of the foot opening is preferably positioned at a point somewhat higher than the rear top edge 18 in position to engage the wearers instep. It will be observed that when the top edge 18 of the rear portion of upper 12 terminates in the region of the oscalcis bone so as to grip the wearers foot in said region, said bone presents a firm abutment to the rear portion of the upper and, as hereinbefore stated, substantially prevents, or entirely eliminates, the cutting action of the rear top edge of the upper which usually occurs in the case of shoes which are designed so that said edge of the upper terminates above the oscalcis bone in position to engage the compara- .tively soft foot structure in that region. It is preferred that the rear top edge of the upper be located at or just below the top of the oscalcis 35 bone but said edge may be located further below the top of said bone. Thus, for example in a 4B ladys low shoe a variation in the range of about one-quarter of an inch downwardly from the top of the oscalcis bone may be made without de tracting from the benefits of the present invention, but where the rear edge is thus lowered, it is preferred that the front top edge of the upper be raised by approximately the same amount. In the shoe illustrated in Figs 1 and 2, the upper is circumferentially continuous at the foot opening, and the side edges 24 at the foot opening are inclined downwardly from the front edge 22 to the rear edge l8. It will be understood, however, that the upper may be interrupted at the front thereof 50 and provided with a lace, strap, buttons, or other closure arrangement.

In Fig. 3 of the drawing the invention is shown embodied in a ladys pump 30. The rear top edge 32 of the upper is lowered from the conventional 55 height above the heel seat so that said edge is positioned, in foot-gripping relation, back of the oscalcis, as heretofore described in connection with the shoe illustrated in Fig. 1. The front top edge 34- of the upper is raised somewhat above conventional height. For example, in a size 43 ladys pump where the conventional height of the rear top edge of the upper is 2 above the heel seat, and the front top edge of the upper is 2 measured on the curve, from the crease of the upper at the tip of the shoe, between the upper and the outsole on the outside of the shoe, said rear top edge 32 is preferably 1 above the heel seat and said front top edge 34 is 3", measured on the curve, from the crease, at the tip of the shoe. When the rear topedge 32 is lowered further, the front top edge 34 is correspondingly raised preferably about the same amount. It will be observed that in the pump here shown as well as in the shoe shown in Fig. 1, the rear top edge of the upper does not extend appreciably inwardly or toward the front edge of the upper, as in. the conventional pump or low shoe, and that the tendency of the rear top edge to cut into the foot is therefore substantially reduced, if not entirely eliminated.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that the latter may be embodied otherwise than as here shown in accordance with the principle of this invention. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited precisely to the present construction, but on the contrary, it is intended to broadly cover low shoes for men, women and children, designed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what- I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A low shoe comprising a sole, a heel, and an upper having a smooth surface over the; instep, the top edge of the upper being higher than such edge in a low shoe of normal standard construction over the instep and the top edge of the upper being lower than such edge in a low shoe of normal standard construction at the heel whereby said higher and lower edges of the upper grip the foot of the wearer at the instep and heel, respectively, in such manner as to releasably retain the shoe on the wearers foot; while said lower rear edge portion of the upper engages the heel of the wearer back of the oscalcis bone below the top thereof.

SEYMOUR TROY. 

